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Ridin' Dirty in the South: A Guide to (Hip Hop) Car Culture in Houston

Houston's car culture and the Southern hip hop sounds of chopped and screwed music go hand-in-hand. In fact, few experiences here can compare to the sound of DJ Screw blaring out of a SLAB. SLABs have definitely carved their place in Houston's hip hop culture. If you have ever wondered about the meeting of SLAB cars and chopped and screwed music, you can find out with this infographic presented by Shabana Motors.

The Origin of the SLAB

The product of Houston's urban sprawl that begin in the 1970s, the car culture here spawned from the pimp-style rides that were hallmark in that decade. As followers began customizing their own SLAB rides, the city's Heights neighborhood eventually began to celebrate this phenomenon with its annual Art Car Parade. In fact, SLAB rides became synonymous with restored or customized GM brand cars, including the Cadillac Fleetwood, the Eldorado, Buick, and more.

Car Culture and Music Mix

Insert chopped and screwed music, a style of remixing hip hop into slower rhythms rather than speeding it up, and you've got a winning combination. The southern sound also combines record scratching, skipping beats, stop-time, and other techniques that create a chopped-up version of the original song. As you will find out in this infographic, Houston's car culture and its association with this style of music continue to fan the flames of die-hard followers of this local culture and SLAB cars. For many people who love and are devoted to the SLAB hip hop culture in Houston, the music and cars are fixtures in their way of life.